Sam's Shrimp

Sam is a seven year old boy who went fishing for the first time. He was on holiday in the Kaipara, north of Auckland. To his surprise he didn’t catch a fish, but this giant shrimp, called Japanese mantis shrimp. A shrimp is not a fish, but a crustacean. It has a powerful spear, which it uses to hunt. You don’t want this creature lashing out at your finger, as it could spear right through it!  Can you tell from the picture how large it is?

The Japanese mantis shrimp is an invasive species, which means it doesn’t belong in NZ, and has a negative effect on the environment. It probably arrived here on a fishing vessel.

Sam donated his catch to the museum, and now it has become part of the marine collection. 

The lady in the picture is Wilma. She works at the museum and is a taxonomist, which means she can identify many creatures and give them the correct label. She told me the scientific name for this shrimp is Oratosquila oratorio. 

Fun fact: in Japan they eat hem as sushi. 

What stands on top of a hill and is full of birds, bones and fishes?

Probably all of you have been here once or more, particularly during the holidays. It's the Auckland War Memorial Museum, and I am lucky enough to work here now! My work desk is in the Marine Science department, where I am surrounded by a lot of very kind and clever scientists, and at the moment I am studying invasive birds. Invasive birds are the opposite of native birds, the ones we all love so much, and some of them you might have studied in school, like the Whio and Kiwi. Invasive birds are birds that came here from overseas, usually on board of ships. Some examples are sparrows, mynas and rosellas. They sometimes compete with our native birds for food and nesting spaces, so can be a threat to our native birds. The more we know about these invasive species, the better we are able to protect our toanga, our treasured native birds.

Ka kite ano!